Reading the Chart

This is a Karnaugh map, arranging the 16 temperament types so that
each type is surrounded by the four types that most closely resemble
it (by having three letters in common). Note that when you go off the
edge it "wraps around" to the other side. So for example, INTP is
surrounded by its four nearest neighbors ENTP, ISTP, INFP, and INTJ.

Each temperament has one exact opposite. This opposite is always
located two squares away in a diagonal direction  go whichever
direction you need so you stay on the grid. For example, ESTP and INFJ
are opposites.

The most common temperaments (those that include S and J) are
positioned in the center, for convenience.

The T types (more common among men) occupy the left half of the chart
and the F types (more common among women) occupy the right.

The E-I Dimension
E = expressive, speaking, socially promiscuous ("Extroverted")
I = reserved, listening, socially intimate ("Introverted")
Men are slightly more likely to be I (46% to 54%) and women
more likely to be E (52% to 48%).

E

E

E

E

E

E

E

E

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

The S-N Dimension
N = abstract in thought and speech ("iNtuitive")
S = concrete in thought and speech ("Sensing")
About 73% of the population is S. Among men the split is 72% to
28%; among women it is 75% to 25%.

N

S

S

N

N

S

S

N

N

S

S

N

N

S

S

N

The T-F Dimension
T = utilitarian in using tools ("Thinking")
F = coorperative in using tools ("Feeling")
According to Myers[5], about 60% of the population is
F; with the breakdown differing widely by gender: men are 57% T and
43% F, while women are 40% T and 60% F.
Fitzgerald[3] claims that men are roughly 65% T
and women roughly 65% F.

T

T

F

F

T

T

F

F

T

T

F

F

T

T

F

F

The P-J Dimension
J = organized/scheduled/inflexible ("Judging")
P = flexible/unscheduled/disorganized ("Perceiving")
There are slightly more J's than P's; among men the split is 52%
to 48%; among women it is 56% to 44%.

P

P

P

P

J

J

J

J

J

J

J

J

P

P

P

P

X Types

The thirty-two types that have a single "X" are placed midway between
the two types whose combination they embody. Only a few of these have links
to descriptions. Eight of them have characteristic names (like "engineer")
given by Keirsey.

X-X Types

For the record, there are 24 types that have two X's; 16 of these are
represented by the little squares with a two-letter label like "et",
and the other eight comprise the four rows (ep, ej, ij and ip)
and the four columns (nt, st, sf and nf).

The Four Archetypes

The four "archetypes" described in Keirsey's books, that have been
known by various names for over 2000 years, are NT "Rational", SP
"Artisan", SJ "Guardian" and NF "Idealist". They are arranged like
this on the chart:

NT

SP

SP

NF

NT

SJ

SJ

NF

NT

SJ

SJ

NF

NT

SP

SP

NF

Some readers (NT's in particular) will notice that this division is
"non-symmetrical"  two columns a square and two "half-squares",
rather than four squares or four columns. This results from the fact
that the population is being divided into four groups based on their
two most significant dimensions. For all people, the S-N
dimension is the most significant. However, the second-most
significant dimension depends on whether the individual is an S or an
N. For S types, the P-J dimension is the second-most significant, and
for N types it is the T-F dimension.

Based on that, and assuming completely orthogonal distribution, the
statistics would be:

ENTP 4.7%

ESTP 14%

ESFP 14%

ENFP 4.7%

ENTJ 4.7%

ESTJ 14%

ESFJ 14%

ENFJ 4.7%

INTJ 1.6%

ISTJ 4.7%

ISFJ 4.7%

INFJ 1.6%

INTP 1.6%

ISTP 4.7%

ISFP 4.7%

INFP 1.6%

and within each type, the T types (the left two columns) would be 60%
men, and the F types (the right two columns) 60% women.

I based an earlier version of the table at the top of this web page on
those stastics, with the IP row along the top rather than the bottom,
and the ES types in the center 4 squares. However, the 3-to-1
distribution of E-vs-I is not shown in any of the more recent
sources, so I have deprecated it.

In Please Understand Me II by Keirsey[4], most of the
articles on the specific temperament types include a comment like
"comprising no more than, say, two percent of the population". Those
statements are summarized here:

ENTP 2%

ESTP %

ESFP %

ENFP 2.5%

ENTJ <2%

ESTJ 10+%

ESFJ %

ENFJ %

INTJ 1%

ISTJ %

ISFJ %

INFJ %

INTP 1%

ISTP %

ISFP %

INFP %

In the 1998 edition of MBTIManual the following statistics
are given[5]. They are also quoted on the Wikipedia page for
MBTI, which mentions that a form of "inferential statistics" was used
to estimate them:

ENTP 3.2%

ESTP 4.3%

ESFP 8.5%

ENFP 8.1%

ENTJ 1.8%

ESTJ 8.7%

ESFJ 12.3%

ENFJ 2.5%

INTJ 2.1%

ISTJ 11.6%

ISFJ 13.8%

INFJ 1.5%

INTP 3.3%

ISTP 5.4%

ISFP 8.8%

INFP 4.4%

Based on that, one can get the following derived statistics:

E-vs-I: 49.3% is E, 50.7% is I
S-vs-N: 73.2% is S, 26.8% is N
T-vs-F: 40.3% is T, 59.7% is F
J-vs-P: 54.1% is J, 45.9% is P

The 4 archetytpes of Plato (with their Galen, Spränger and Myers names):

Keirsey has a website you can go to and take a test to determine
your own type. It collects statistics, which are also available to
anyone interested. As of June 2006, the statistics
were[6]:

ENTP 2.33%

ESTP 2.68%

ESFP 4.65%

ENFP 8.64%

ENTJ 3.57%

ESTJ 11.71%

ESFJ 12.14%

ENFJ 7.53%

INTJ 5.19%

ISTJ 10.56%

ISFJ 9.39%

INFJ 7.11%

INTP 2.99%

ISTP 2.07%

ISFP 2.84%

INFP 6.61%

Please note that these statistics are biased because they only count
people who go to a website and take a personality test! In
general any activity that requires agreement to participate will have
self-selection bias, but websites are notoriously poor in that
regard.

For example, an Enneagram-related site keeps statistics of how many
women and men take their survey. The women outnumber the men by a
ratio of about 3 to 1. (It is believed that the website attracts women
and theories include the notion that women are more interested in
personality types.) There might be type-correlated bias (such as an
"expressive bias") affecting who is likely to use the Internet as a
whole, or to be curious enough about personality types to find their
way to the Keirsey site.

It is based on the above two sources (Keirsey and Myers) that I have
assigned the percentages in the main table at the top of this page,
but rather than copying or averaging the figures, I computed arbitrary
figures based on the model: S:N = 3:1, J:P = 3:1, and T-F is 3:2 among
men and 2:3 among women.

If you like structured charts related to categories of personality,
you might also wish to check out my
archetypes chart.

This distinction goes back to Jung; by the time Myers-Briggs got to it
they were called "extraverted" and "introverted". Over time these
words developed clear (and often negatively judgmental) stereotypes.
Possibly to address this, Keirsey has come to calling them
"expressive" and "attentive".

When looking over the attributes in the two columns, I'd like you to
consider two pairs of archetypes that are near and dear to me and many
of my generation: Felix versus Oscar of "The Odd Couple", and the
Establishment versus the Hippies of American culture during the
period that TV show was popular.

In each column are the negatively-biased names that were typically
used against that type. For example, Felix was called "uptight" by
Oscar and Oscar was called "lazy" by Felix.

MBTI J Type

MBTI P Type

Scheduler

Prober

Felix

Oscar

the Establishment

the Hippies

"too rule-bound"

"indecisive"

"in too big a hurry"

"foot-dragging"

"rigid and inflexible"
("driven", not "driving")

"aimless"

"uptight" or "driven"

"lazy"

"slave-driving"

"uncooperative"

"wearing blinders"

"quibbling"

"stressed-out"

"being a roadblock"

"arbitrary"

"sloppy"

"neat-freaks"

"slovenly"

Under the Strauss-Howe generational theory, there are four phases
of societal attitudes and political tactics that (usually) occur in a
fixed sequence and last about 20 years each: The "High" (or "Boom"),
the "Awakening" (or "Enlightenment"), the "Unraveling", and the
"Crisis" (which is then followed by another "High").

The 1960's and 1970's was the most recent Awakening period in United
States history. During this period the P-types were the Hippies
and the J-types were those they criticised including
"The Establishment" and its supporters.

As in all Awakenings, the raging debate is fundamentally one between
the dominant J-type philosophy that achieved so much progress during
the preceding High, and the P-type philosophy that had been
squelched during that period. The cultural struggle that became
obvious and prevalent during the 1960's, and continued to rage during
the 1970's, was one of P-type philosophy saying "it's time for new
insights and fresh communication".

Perhaps the largest conflict of P versus J in any cultural history is
seen in the debate over wars and foreign policy. I have already
mentioned the Vietnam debate of the 1960's and 1970's in the United
States. The P types (the war protesters) marched in Washington and
cities across the country protesting that the J types (those in
charge of the war action decisions) were "wearing blinders", "rigid
and inflexible", and blindly committed to the point of blatant
irresponsibility. Their ultimate goal (seeing an end to the Cold War and
the domination of much of the world by Communism) was achieved years
later  but not by either the P-types or the J-types working
alone.

(The following "profile" of INTP is from Wikipedia, circa
June 2009. It is provided here as an example; the other types (below)
have links to similar profiles on Wikipedia.)

INTP types are quiet, thoughtful, analytical individuals who enjoy
spending long periods of time on their own, working through problems
and forming solutions. They are curious about systems and how things
work. Consequently, they are frequently found in careers such as
science, architecture, and law. INTPs tend to be less at ease in
social situations or in the "caring professions," although they enjoy
the company of those who share their interests. They also tend to be
impatient with the bureaucracy, the rigid hierarchies, and the
politics prevalent in many professions. They prefer to work informally
with others as equals.[7]

INTPs organize their understanding of any topic by articulating
principles, and they are especially drawn to theoretical constructs.
Having articulated these principles for themselves, they can
demonstrate remarkable skill in explaining complex ideas to others in
simple terms, especially in writing. On the other hand, their ability
to grasp complexity may also lead them to provide overly detailed
explanations of "simple" ideas, and listeners may judge that the INTP
makes things more difficult than they are. To the INTP, however, this
is incomprehensible: They are merely presenting all the
information.[7]

Given their independent nature, INTPs may prefer working alone to
leading or following in a group. During interactions with others, if
INTPs are focused on gathering information, they may seem oblivious,
aloof, or even rebellious  when in fact they are concentrating on
listening and understanding. However, INTPs'
extraverted intuition often gives them a quick wit, especially with
language. They may defuse tension through comical observations and
references. They can be charming, even in their quiet reserve, and are
sometimes surprised by the high esteem in which their friends and
colleagues hold them.[7]

When INTPs feel insulted, however, they may respond with sudden and
crushing criticism. After such an incident, INTPs are likely to be as
bewildered as the recipient. They have broken the rules of debate and
exposed their raw emotions. To INTPs, this is the crux of the problem:
emotions must be dealt with logically  because improperly handled
emotions, INTPs believe, can only harm.

Examples:

In his
1993 profile
of INTP, Joe Butt of Typelogic
speculated that Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein and several oher
scientists were INTP. However, according to the guidelines for the
ethical use of the MBTI, a type can only be identified through
interaction with the person.[8]

I have written a couple "profiles" for "X-types", the types that
include one dimension that is halfway between its extremes. These
profiles are based loosely on the format of the well-known profiles
written by Joe Butt and Marina Margaret Heiss. Those are available on
their website, TypeLogic.

Often quiet and reserved, but often stimulating company, alert and outspoken.
Usually interested mainly in ideas.
Often enjoys parties and small talk  may argue for fun on either side of a question.
Enjoys theoretical and scientific pursuits.
Tend to have sharply defined interests.
Enjoys solving problems with logic and analysis.
Quick, ingenious, good at many things.
Apt to turn to one new interest after another.
Resourceful in solving new and challenging problems, but may neglect routine assignemnts.
Need careers where some strong interest can be used and be useful.
Skillful in finding logical reasons for what they want.

ExTJs promote concepts that are logical and objective, planned and
organized, and they advertize these concepts to other people. They
are equally likely to develop these concepts on their own as they are
to take them from others. As a result, an ExTJ placed in a position
of leadership will perform well, implementing/enforcing existing
rules when they seem applicable, and creating his own solutions when
the rules do not apply or when information is not readily available.
They excel at taking an existing system and modifying/improving it
until it works better.